could i kiss you and make you a king?

twenty years float along and we've aged
crow's feet sleeping at the corners of your eyes
laugh lines making parentheses around your lips

counting the days backwards
does not encourage me to remember anymore
because this photographic memory has run out of film

black tires creating a blur
rolling down the fast lane; racing the yellow dotted lines
never envisioning the future, only wind in our hair

it was toxic air we breathed
creating miracles
blending sorrow and hope in a tangled web
driving ambition right over that rocky edge and through the clouds
stirring hot tears with stolen kisses and guarded hearts
god, it's so hard to breathe

it's twenty years later
the creaking rocking chair whispers to the children
a secret that can never be shared, but..

calloused fingers graze freckled cheeks
and suddenly she's telling it all
salty winds carry her heavy and simple words

a new roll of film exposed to the fiery sun
faces blurred
dark shapes
fingers trace outlines
trying to remember

and her words creak along with the wicker chair on the front porch.

this toxic air we breathe; struggling to rewind
violins in the distance, perhaps a broken symphony
blind lyrics feel around in the dark,
but no one forgets the whispered secret.

just as i have not forgotten you.

oh, peace.

for centuries we've battled the dark
with sheer and spiritual sparks
handfuls still wonder of light,
whisper the sun will rise again
but we slaughter our need for warmth
with stoic and calculated murder
we learn to drift and swagger
from our hearts and from our minds
but let us not be hopeless,
for you will quench our desperate tongues
thy wise and omnipotent word
is a fucking lamp unto our feet.

for decades we've closed our eyes
while red dust on logic grows
we nourish and bathe our lies
but in our souls we know
that freedom offers us all a stable and steady hand
but the cold metal pressed to my palm
doesn't create in me a bigger man
courage, o sacred one, grant us the tools to finish
to dole out honesty and corrupted justice with fast and intoxicated guns

for days you've quenched our thirst
still sands we have crawled
but we'll be finished grains with saharra dust
when the seas whistle us in
we'll collapse into the arms
of a salty and sturdy embrace
under comets and sweeping leaves
we'll leave our old skin like snakes
and time will never follow and sorrow becomes unraveled
and we'll blaze with the flames of a infinite amount of suns

syringe.

"once upon a time, there was candy and dan. things were very hot that year. all the wax was melting in the trees. he would climb balconies, climb everywhere, do anything for her. oh danny boy. thousands of birds, the tiniest birds, adorned her hair. everything was gold. one night the bed caught fire. he was handsome and a very good criminal. we lived on sunlight and chocolate bars. it was the afternoon of extravagent delight. danny the daredevil. candy went missing. the day's last rays of sunshine cruise like sharks. i want to try it your way this time. you came into my life really fast, and i liked it. we squelched in the mud of our joy. i was wet-thighed with surrender. then there was a gap in things, and the whole earth tilted. this is the business, this, is what we're after. with you inside me comes the hatch of death. and perhaps i'll simply never sleep again. the monster in the pool. we are a proper family now with cats and chickens and runner beans. everywhere i looked. and sometimes i hate you. friday--i didn't mean that mother or blueness. you pointed at the sky, that once called sirius or dog star, but one here on earth. fly away sun. ha ha fucking ha. you are so funny dan. a vase of flowers by the bed. my bare blue knees at dawn. these ruffled sheets and you are gone and i am going too. i broke your head on the back of the bed, but the baby died in the morning. i gave him a name. his name was thomas. poor little god. his heart pounds like a voodoo drum."